Thanks(!) to all who came out to the Handmade Holiday Sale at the West End Cultural Centre this weekend and who helped make the event the success it was. I enjoyed meeting and visiting with you… your positive remarks and comments about some of my (admittedly quirky) ceramics were greatly appreciated. Thanks also to the fine folks and volunteers who took care of the planning, logistics, etc.

It was also good to finally meet some of the other artists involved with the Manitoba Crafts Council (I have heard and read about you, but have not had the privilege to actually meet many of you before this show).

Here’s a huge “Thanks!” to Helma and the 25+ area artists who crowded into my little home last night to attend a party in honour of this fine woman. Our lakeside communities are indebted to Helma for the tireless energy she has offered to the local creative scene—as a founder of the Winnipeg Beach Art & Culture Co-op Inc. a decade ago, and as an enthusiastic leader of 8 successful years of WAVE Artists’ Studio Tours. (Helma took the evening’s thanks and kudos in stride… though for the first time that anyone can remember, seemed at a bit of a loss for words at one point :-).